Ibn ‘Arabî – Time and Cosmology Time is one of the most important issues in physics, cosmology, philosophy and theology. Many books and articles have been published in this interdisciplinary field before, but none of those studies have fully described Ibn ‘Arabî’s unique view which is central to understanding, for example, his controversial theory of the ‘oneness of being’. This book is the first comprehensive attempt to explain Ibn ‘Arabî’s distinctive view of time and its role in the process of creating the cosmos and its relation with the Creator. By comparing this original view with modern theories of physics and cosmology, Mohamed Haj Yousef constructs a new cosmological model that may deepen and extend our understanding of the world, while potentially solving some of the drawbacks in the current models such as the historical Zeno’s paradoxes of motion and the recent Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox (EPR) that underlines the discrepancies between Quantum Mechanics and Relativity. Ibn ‘Arabî – Time and Cosmology is an important contribution to the fields of philosophy, cosmology, physics and theology. Mohamed Haj Yousef is lecturer in the Department of Physics, United Arab Emirates University. 2 Culture and civilization in the Middle East General Editor: Ian Richard Netton Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Exeter This series studies the Middle East through the twin foci of its diverse cultures and civilizations. Comprising original monographs as well as scholarly surveys, it covers topics in the fields of Middle Eastern literature, archaeology, law, history, philosophy, science, folklore, art, architecture and language. While there is a plurality of views, the series presents serious scholarship in a lucid and stimulating fashion. 1 The Epistemology of Ibn Khaldun Zaid Ahmad 2 The Hanbali School of Law and Ibn Taymiyyah Conflict or conciliation Abdul Hakim I Al-Matroudi 3 Arabic Rhetoric A pragmatic analysis Hussein Abdul-Raof 4 Arab Representations of the Occident East-West encounters in Arabic fiction Rasheed El-Enany 5 God and Humans in Islamic Thought Abd al-Jabbār, Ibn Sīnā and al-Ghazālī Maha Elkaisy-Friemuth 3 6 Original Islam Malik and the madhhab of Madina Yasin Dutton 7 Al-Ghazali and the Qur’an One book, many meanings Martin Whittingham 8 Birth of The Prophet Muhammad Devotional piety in Sunni Islam Marion Holmes Katz 9 Space and Muslim Urban Life At the limits of the labyrinth of Fez Simon O’Meara 10 Islam Science The intellectual career of Nizam al-Din al-Nizaburi Robert G. Morrison 11 Ibn ‘Arabî – Time and Cosmology Mohamed Haj Yousef 4 Ibn ‘Arabî – Time and Cosmology Mohamed Haj Yousef 5 First published 2008 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2008 Mohamed Haj Yousef All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 10: 0-415-44499-3 (hbk) ISBN 10: 0-203-93824-0 (ebk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-44499-6 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-203-93824-9 (ebk) 6 To the Spirit of al-Shaykh al-Akbar Muhyi ed-Din Ibn al-‘Arabî, may Allah’s Mercy be upon him, To the Spirits of my parents, may Allah’s Mercy be upon them, To my dearest wife who supported me all the times, To my two sons Abdullah and Yousef, and my daughter Fatima, To my brothers and sisters, in Islam, and in humankind, To all I dedicate this humble work. 7 Contents List of figures List of tables Foreword by Professor James W. Morris (Boston College) Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1 Cosmology and time 2 General aspects of Ibn ‘Arabî’s concept of time and days 3 The significance of the divine week and its seven days 4 The actual flow of time 5 Unicity and multiplicity 6 The Single Monad model of the cosmos 7 The Single Monad model and its implications for modern physics Notes Bibliography Index 8 9 Figures 1.1 ‘The Cloud’ and what it contains, down to the ‘establishing Throne’ 1.2 The establishing Throne and what it contains down to the Pedestal 1.3 The (divine) Pedestal and what it contains down to the constellations 1.4 The orb of the constellations and what it contains down to the Earth 2.1 The Cycle of Life 2.2 The daytime and night in the sky 3.1 The Divine Quadratic Rule 4.1 The taken-out days 4.2 The intertwined days, and their relation with the circulated days 4.3 The Zodiac and the motion of the days through it 5.1 The Real, the ‘Possible’ existents, and the ‘Impossible’ 6.1 Summary of the different types of knowable things 6.2 The Different Divisions of Existence 6.3 The Kaaba, with people on the Hajj circumambulating it 6.4 How circumambulating the Kaaba is similar to the Greatest Element’s creation of the Single Monad 10